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The Lodger (TV story)
The Lodger 'is the eleventh episode of the fifth series of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Gareth Roberts, directed by Catherine Morshead and featured Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond. Overview To be added Synopsis No sooner does the TARDIS land on Earth that it leaves again - but without the Doctor who had just stepped outside. The Doctor soon finds himself at the home of Craig Owens, who has been advertising for a lodger. There's clearly something odd in the house with people being lured to the upstairs room, but never reappearing. But then there's always the problem of that upstairs room. Plot The TARDIS lands in a park on Earth. The Doctor sticks his head out to find they have not arrived at the Fifth Moon of Sinda Callista. A sudden jolt thrusts the Doctor outside as the door closes and the TARDIS disappears, with a screaming Amy still inside as the control room shakes violently and suddenly levels off. The Doctor is left on his back, looking completely shocked; he begins worrying for both Amy and the TARDIS's safety. Elsewhere, a civilian is called upon by an elderly man inside a building and goes up to his flat to investigate. In the flat below, Craig Owens and his friend, Sophie, discuss their usual plans for the evening; Sophie addresses the rot stain on the ceiling is growing before receiving a call from her friend Melina, who is recovering from a break-up. Despite her hopes that Craig will ask her to stay, both awkwardly leave, berating themselves separately over their obviously withheld feelings for one another. Craig notices Sophie left her keys and, upon hearing a knock on the door, suspects it's her and goes to return them, repeatedly uttering 'I love you', only to open the door to the Doctor, who's taken up the position of his lodger. Despite is eccentricities, the Doctor presents all the correct information for Craig to accept him as legitimate and presents him with a door key; later, the Doctor earns his favour by cooking him a meal. That night, while Craig in on the phone to Sophie in bed, the Doctor rigs an earpiece to contact Amy in the TARDIS with a signal that makes everything he says sound like nonsense to outside ears. While the TARDIS struggles to land again, a woman, clearly upset and having come from a club, passes the house and is called inside by another man in the upstairs flat. When she goes inside, sparks and electricity go off inside and the TARDIS goes haywire again only for it to subside a few minutes later. The following morning, the Doctor is in the shower and Craig suddenly gets an impulse to check in on the man upstairs; the Doctor, suspecting danger, rushes out to help Craig, trying to grab his sonic screwdriver but emerges with a toothbrush. Sophie arrives and meets the Doctor before Craig gets a call from his friend and asks the Doctor if he can fill in a position for his football game. To the amazement of the team and the onlookers, the Doctor is phenomenal at the game, though this makes Craig increasingly jealous. At the end of the game, Craig's shaken drink explodes and everybody is suddenly caught in a time glitch, repeating the same seconds on loop while the Doctor remains unaffected. In the flat upstairs, another woman is coaxed inside and subject to a terrifying or painful experience. The TARDIS starts shuddering again but quickly levels and the Doctor tells Amy that it's possible that the TARDIS could take her off into the vortex forever if he can't fix the problem soon. That evening, Craig spends some time with Sophie when the Doctor interrupts and joins them, inadvertently giving Sophie the idea and desire to travel while Craig doesn't see the point. After they've gone, Craig, annoyed by the Doctor's actions, touches the rot on the ceiling and the Doctor finds him in bed, struck down by a poisonous substance. Quickly concocting an anti-toxin, the Doctor manages to ease the illness but advises him to stay in bed for the day. The day passes and Craig realises he's late for a very important work meeting. By the time he makes it to the office, he finds the Doctor standing in for him, impressing his boss and co-workers and it makes him even more frustrated. Having had enough of the weirdness, Craig opens the Doctor's room and discovers a scanner he'd built out of local junk. The Doctor returns to the house and, through means of telepathic communion with a cat, learns people have been going into the flat upstairs but not coming back down again. Craig interrupts and, his limit reached, orders the Doctor to leave. The Doctor protests but Craig insists that he get out; in response, the Doctor decides to give him the picture and headbutts him twice, providing him with his general background and the specific details of his current predicament and he is awestruck. Outside, Sophie arrives and is coaxed upstairs by a little girl in the doorway. The Doctor calls Amy again just as time glitches a third time as Sophie goes into the flat. The Doctor gets Amy to draw up the building's plans and he and Craig run up the stairs to rescue Sophie; however, Amy suddenly gets the plans up and tells the Doctor they're in a one-storey building - there is no upstairs. In the flat, the Doctor and Craig find the second-storey's true interior, a makeshift time engine that innocent people have been coaxed up into attempting to pilot, only to be killed in the attempt. The Doctor and Craig manage to keep Sophie from suffering the same fate and the ship's interface appears and decides the Doctor is the best candidate. As it drags him towards the control panel, he insists that he's too much for the ship to handle and that using him would detonate the entire solar system. Remembering that the interface told Craig he couldn't help him, the Doctor realises that the ship doesn't want him as he doesn't want to leave and, in a last-ditch effort, tells him to place his hand on the panel and think on why he wants to stay. Taking the risk, Craig slams his hand on the panel and the Doctor asks him why he doesn't want to leave, so he reveals his feelings for Sophie are the reason for his desire to remain. Sophie, utilising her reciprocating feelings, slams her hand on the panel as well; their spontaneous kiss shuts down the engine but triggers an emergency shutdown that causes the ship to start imploding and the three evacuate. Running out of the building, the top floor's disguise drops and the ship's real form is revealed, just as it vanishes into thin air. Later on, the Doctor attempts to slip away, but Craig catches him and gives him a pair of keys as a keepsake before he leaves him and Sophie to live their lives together. Later in the TARDIS, the Doctor tells Amy to write the note for his past self to find pointing him to Craig's advert. While looking for a pen in his jacket, Amy's engagement ring falls onto the floor and she examines it - while a crack in the wall of Craig's flat opens up, Amy considers the ring with curiosity and slight fear. Cast * The Doctor - Matt Smith * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan * Craig - James Corden * Sophie - Daisy Haggard * Steven - Owen Donovan * Sean - Babatunde Aleshe * Michael - Jem Wall * Sandra - Karen Seacombe * Clubber - Kamara Bacchus Crew To be added References To be added Story Notes To be added Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''The Lodger'' page on '''Doctor Who Website